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Will progress be made at Mideast peace talks in Washington?

The U.S. invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to meet in Washington on Sept. 2 to launch long-stalled direct talks on a peace agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the renewed negotiations aimed to "resolve all final status issues, which we believe can be completed within one year."

What do you think? With new U.S. leadership, can talks which have been stalled for two years get moving again?

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Pedro Gras writes that If one side thinks they can win, both will lose. Islam never loses; Islam merely suffers "set-backs". Islam lost in WWI, and she is still fighting today to regain what she lost there. She lost other lands over the centuries, and the Hamas Charter today calls for the regaining of every inch of any lands once controlled by Islam:

"Article Eleven:” [note the phrase “and the same goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force in number (iv)]”

(i) “The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up.”

(ii)”Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that”

(iii)” Palestine is an Islamic Waqf land consecrated for Moslem generations until Judgement Day. This being so, who could claim to have the right to represent Moslem generations till Judgement Day?”

(iv) “This is the law governing the land of Palestine in the Islamic Sharia (law) and the same] goes for any land the Moslems have conquered by force, because during the times of (Islamic) conquests, the Moslems consecrated these lands to Moslem generations till the Day of Judgement." [numbers added]

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". . .the same [imposition of Sharia law] goes for any lands the Moslems have conquered by force"

Wake up Europe--as nearly all Europe remains ignorant of the true goals of Hamas, and of Iran by extension, as they blindly support the Palestinian cause.

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The "score" isn't 85 to 15 against progress, it is 85% against 15% that progress will be made, given the intractable position of Hamas. When one party to the talks has no intention of listening to the other side, in fact believes that that side (the Israelis) should be annihilated, how can any progress be expected to occur?

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You're correct. The values of the "Elected to political power Terrorist Group", Hamas, being well outlined in the Hamas Charter of 1988, I.e. Article 20 which calls for the complete annihilation of Israel and all Jews world-wide, leaves no room for discussion. Hamas has made it crystal-clear that talks with Israel will never be possible as Hamas refuses to recognize that Israel has a right to exist.

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Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences
[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; . . ."

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Let's try it this way, "As long as one state adopts a "State Religion" that all are expected to follow, that calls for the annihilation of any who do not follow that religion, as Hamas calls for the annihilation of all Jews and of Israel, there will be no peace between the Jews and the Muslims."

Your statement implies that Israel and the Jews will not engage in meaningful negotiations with the Palestinians, and that is simply nonsense. There has been much posted on this Topic to provide you with an excellent education. It will behoove you to read what has been posted, and them make an educated comment.

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This is a reply to your comment which states: consider how much hate such a small community of people seems to instill in a world of other cultures so big that the only parable that I can think of that comes close is that of the ELEPHANT being afraid of a mouse.

I would suggest that it is not "this small community of people" which instills hatred in a world of other cultures, but rather those other cultures that do it themselves --and have been doing it since their inception, and well before there was a modern Israel.

Judaism predated both Christianity and Islam, and both of the latter found it desireable to attack the preceding religions in order to gain and maintain adherents.

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While Israel certainly does depend on the US for much regarding its survival, the US also depends greatly on Israel and its ability to help maintain a semblance of normalcy in a part of the world in which any sense of normalcy is abnormal.

I never cease to be amazed at the ability of a small "State" physically...think of a dot the size of a period "." versus this area, "O" as the land mass of the Arabic countries surrounding it, and with a population no greater than 8 Million, about the size of Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California, combined, to be able to survive all attempts to annihilate her, most notably during the Six Day War in 1967.

Think of a people, the Jews, who number a whopping 15 million worldwide, give or take, versus 2.2 Billion Christians and 1.8 Billion Muslims, and in that light of that, consider how much hate such a small community of people seems to instill in a world of other cultures so big that the only parable that I can think of that comes close is that of the ELEPHANT being afraid of a mouse.

While I agree that Obama will undoubtedly attempt to perform some unilateral "arm twisting", it is my hope that Netanyahu will be able to point out to Obama that given his far from "supportive" stance for Israel to date, anything short of the anticipated US Military bases being set up in Israel, under Israel's or a joint command, and anything short of the US providing Israel with the latest in hi-tech fighters and nuclear-armed submarines, will simply be, too short.

In my opinion, not humble, it is time for those nations that claim to support Israel, to put up or shut up. Let those nations that threaten Israel with annihilation know that any attack on Israel will be considered to be an attack on the USA and the other countries of the "Free-World".

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The mystery is why the US is involved in this media show. This has been going on forever and is of no particular importance to the US.
When BOTH sides want to cut a deal, they will. We are the odd man out.

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James Benning: Israel provides the only balance for the US in the ME. Should Israel fall, none of the countries in the the ME will be willing to negotiate with civility and common sense with the US.

Your suggesting that the conditions in the ME are of no importance to the US demonstrate your total lack of understanding the politics of the ME and their affect on America. America needs a solid relationship with Israel, and needs to support Israel for its OWN security, let alone to help maintain balance in the ME.

To suggest that when the Israelis and the Palestinians are ready to "cut a deal" will leave the US the "Odd man out", is ludicrous.

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Why is the US involved? Because Iran has called for a world without the United States, and Iran is the major force keeping Hezbollah and Hamas alive and Iran is developing the BOMB and the US and the rest of the West are not going gangbusters in stopping her. Think about it.

Why is she doing it? Ahmadinejad explained in 2005 that he wants Islam to win the war of civilizations, and he believes that the tide of losses sustained by Islam from the West goes back 300 years (undoubtedly he refers to the Battle of Vienna). He also believes, and told the crowd in Tehran who heard his speech, that Palestine is a good place to turn the tide. He thinks Islam can win there; he thinks it MUST win there.

He wants to succor the Islamic troops.

He emphasizes that Iran is not there because the land of Palestine; he could care less, and he says so.

A good slogan for Iran, he says, would be A world without the United States.

I think that's a darned good reason for the US to be involved. How about you? READ IT YOURSELF